The World Cup Party
by mastertkw
Summary: It's the 1982 World Cup, and Gene and gang need a better place to watch England play against France, it turns out Alex is going to play host to the party Rubbish Summary, GALEX! Chapter 3 updated, please Read and Review
1. Chapter 1

World Cup Party Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This will be a shorter fanfic, it's happened around Series 2, and yes It's about the 1982 World Cup, got the inspiration from the world cup fever out here in Singapore! **

**I've tried to make it as accurate as possible over the match of France V England, but there will definitely be anachorisms like the real show. **

**The Galex part will take a bit of time, as this is mostly some interaction of the team when they don't have crime at their hands. Please read and review, Thanks.**

**(To those waiting for Infiltration's finale, it's going to be up on this Friday!)**

It was another nice sunny day for Fenchurch East CID, and a very peaceful day for Gene Hunt.

"This has got to be a holiday!" Chris was lazing around his chair.

It definitely was a holiday for the CID police officers, the reason for this de facto holiday was the World Cup season.

"What day is it today, Shaz?"

"16 June 1982, whats the matter Chris?" Shaz just finished getting another cup of coffee for one of the other officers.

"16 June." Chris muttered.

"16 June!" Ray exclaimed.

"It's…"

"It's England against France!" Ray and the gang were soon bursting into the chorus of "This time, we'll get this right!"

"We're going to find a way a way to get this right!"

"What the bloody hell is this, the Choir from the Church!" Gene burst into the office with Alex closely following.

"Guv, it's world cup, England's fighting against the French."

"Yes! Am I supposed to declare a holiday!" Gene Hunt was once again suffering from a hangover.

"I certainly hope so…" Chris was muttering under his breath only to see a stern glance from the Guv.

"Well it's right for the guys to have a holiday, it's not held at the night!" Alex was protesting along with the gang. She herself wanted to witness some 80s World Cup fever.

"Fancy that coming out of you, Bolls. I don't want the Super smashing my door for an explanation as to why all my officers went missing!" Gene was now at his office, and at his cosy chair.

"Well, My ex-boyfriend was a football fanatic." Alex diverted the question.

"Which club?"

"I don't know, Tottenham or something, the only time I remembered watching football was watching England at Wembley."

"Wembley, Bolls! This time they're at bloody Bilbao, you know where's that, Bolly!"

"Spain!"

"Bloody Spain, and who are we up against!"

"France."

"Yes Bloody little French, it seems like the whole damn world cup is against England. Imagine that bloody king Phil allying with that bastard Louis who got executed."

"That's quite an amusing thought." Alex rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, you know Bolly. I just got word from Luigi, it seems that this year's world cup he's getting his bloody association of Italian Friends to sit in the bar, and he's hanging all Italian flags around." Gene was now out of his office.

"So you lads do want to leave the office empty!"

"Yes! Guv!" The lads were sluggish at first but when they heard Gene giving them a holiday, one could feel the ecstasy in their mouths.

"Fine! As long as the scum don't pour in by lunch, I'm bloody fine with it!" The CID officers cheered as they began to discuss plans on viewing of the World Cup."

"Ted, you watching with us?" Ray was asking one of the CID officers.

"Nah, the missus wants to watch, you know her."

"My wife."

"It's good to watch with the kids eh!"

"I'd like to go back to my local pub."

As Ray and Chris tried their best to gather some CID officers to at least watch the World Cup match. It seems like everyone wants to do it alone.

"I can't believe it, Chris! Back then in Hyde, the whole police division was gathered around to watch England!" Ray was exclaiming with his hands high up.

"So Ray, got the numbers?" The expression of Ray and Chris' face said it all.

"Right! So how many people are there joining this year!" Gene gulped down from his hipflask.

"Chris, you remember we have a date." Shaz was hovering around her beau.

"We could have that in the party." Chris pecked Shaz a kiss, while Ray just turned away in disgust. With Gene looking bewildered at them.

"Viv, you joining?"

"Yeah, then there wouldn't be a desk sergeant, I will be using the tv with the other desk officers." Viv looked pretty upset the fact that everyone's going home.

"So it's just Raymondo, Chris, Shaz and bloody me!"

"And me." Alex raised her hand up like a schoolkid.

"I thought you would be having a thatcherite wanker for lunch, Bolly?" Gene half-jokingly said.

"Well I'd like to enjoy 1982's World Cup!"

"Fine! So it's just Ray, Chris, Shaz, Bolls and me! Five of us, where can we squeeze in this time round?"

"Luigi's."

"I will not support the Lions with bloody Italian flags hanging around my neck! Bolly!" Gene was pretty outraged at the fact that Alex could ever suggest that.

"Ray, what about your apartment?"

"It's too bloody small! What about yours!" Ray protested.

"Chris' apartment only can fit two." Shaz muttered with Ray chuckling at a blushing Chris.

"I have an idea, why not we go to your house, Drake!"

"Well my apartment…"

"Don't try to get your way out of this, there's room for three armed bastards and two posh birds."

"Well then, lets see how we're going to do this then, Guv." Alex for a strange reason decided to agree on hosting the party.

"It's a party, so what do we need, Raymondo?"

"We need food, drinks, a deck of cards at least, some lion scarfs…" Ray and Chris were now using the whiteboard to draw out the plan.

"Food."

"Yes! Food Glorious Food, what do we need Chris."

"You're not expecting me to cook are you?" Alex was stunned as the rest of the lot were looking at her. Gene was about to make another rant.

"Alright, I will cook up something, when's the match again?"

"15 minutes after 5, kick-off time." Ray was as serious as he could in the world cup party planning. As serious as he solved the crime.

"So it means it will end around 7, do I have to make Dinner!" Alex was frustrated, she thought she could have the peace and quiet of watching.

"Yes Bolls, that is if France decide to beat England, course I do not want to see losers shouting why we can't win in the damn bloody pub!" Gene was now drawing out the three lions scarf he had and was wearing it around his neck.

"Well then, I'm definitely confident we will win this one." Alex sure hoped so, the last time she remembered about 1982's world cup was that Bryan Robson scored a quick goal, and full stop.

"We need snacks…" Chris was munching on a Milky Way bar.

"And drinks."

"We can go to the supermarket and buy them."

"Or . He gives a discount to you, Ma'am!" Chris has a chuckle as Ray and him re-enact that silly boom dance they had.

"Ok, so Shaz, what do I need to shop for?"

"Here's the list, Ma'am!"

"Where did you get this from?" Alex asked Shaz, curious to know how she could even finish writing the long list of items to buy when the gang just began to mention it.

"2 years ago, when they wanted to do the same thing at my house." Shaz sounded a bit indignant as Alex gave a empathic smile.

"Did it ever materialise?"

"No, Ma'am, they went to the pub instead, couldn't bear watching Italy beat England. Luigi had a good laugh over it." Alex smiled again, she'd bet that Luigi will have a bigger laugh over Gene anytime soon.

"Oi! Essex Girl, we don't need another bloody history lesson! This year is our year!" Gene snarled, he hated the memory of Italians beating England' arse and Luigi making hell funny out of it.

"Can we go start shopping, Ma'am?"

"No, Shaz, I'd like to know who's paying for me." Alex's feminist tone of mockery soon sent Ray and Chris to stop laughing as she continued to scan the long list of items.

"I don't think it's a good time to say this, Ma'am." Shaz whispered into Alex's ear.

"Well Shaz, it's not as if you paid the money, and made them eat free meals like a soup kitchen and give them free clothing and underwear like some dirty little Santa, isn't it!" Alex was horrified as she saw the shopping list and turned to look at Ray and Chris, who both decided to turn their heads down and elsewhere.

"In fact it is, Ma'am." Alex turned back at Shaz in incredulity.

"I thought our great Guv here would pay, Shaz!" Alex was now mocking Gene, who uncharacteristically decided to shut up.

"He couldn't pay, Ma'am…" Shaz continued.

"What!"

"Yes Bolly, I couldn't pay because I had to pay some bloody bastard some bloody compensation for causing his bloody son's death."

"Who is it, Sam!" Alex had her temper boiling now.

"It's not bloody Tyler you posh tart, it's Sam Robbins, a person who decided to overtake my Quattro and ended up in the mortuary, alright! I'm paying the cost along with you this time, are we done?" Gene hated an argument at the early hours of the morning especially when he's nursing a hangover.

"Fire up the Quattro!" Gene made his move early with a slightly less pissed Alex and the rest of the gang following him.


	2. Chapter 2

A2A-World Cup Party Chapter 2

Tesco Supermarket, London.

"Bolly, we have a few hours left, and I hate to be seen in a bloody supermarket with a posh tart buying groceries!" Gene was languishingly pushing the trolley while Alex was busy reading the shopping list that Shaz prepared.

Alex was now wondering why on earth she decided to volunteer herself as host of the viewing party. She had a small television set just like everyone else, an apartment that didn't seem very cosy to her. She also didn't realise she was watching this time not with that bloody ex of hers, but instead of with 4 imaginary constructs that behave like chauvinistic pigheads when they're in the workplace.

She would have regretted that decision and immediately pulled out but strangely enough, she didn't like to feel lonely in the house. She had hosted quite a lot of parties but most of them were her daughter's birthdays (when she wasn't too workaholic, though Evan did most of the work) Some vibrancy and life would definitely help her cheer up.

"You mean you asked Shaz to get you condoms!" Alex was still reading the shopping list and the list does have some silly surprises.

"Raymondo's joke, never been my idea, but maybe I should consider getting one today." Gene smiled at Alex, while Alex turned her head away, this felt more like a joker's party.

"You crude git!"

"Now have you finished reading that list and can we start bloody shopping!" Gene was looking at some of the criminals he's catched, obviously laughing at what he was doing. Who could imagine the great Manchester lion walking with his arms folded on a trolley with a posh-looking lady doing the grocery shopping. What an awful sight it was! Alex meanwhile ripped the list off.

"My party, my list! Lets fire up the trolley!" While the three men looked horribly shocked after seeing Alex tear the list to the rubbish however was basically strolling around the supermarket shelves, and just throwing anything that didn't seem to appear on the list.

"Pancakes, Bolly!"

"Breakfast!"

"We're not having bloody breakfast at your place, we're watching a…"

"A Football match, who knows you might be staying for the night as a drunk armed bitch!"

"As it happens, I think you're referring to yourself." Gene gave a fake smile as Ray and Chris meanwhile started arguing over Shaz over women in the World Cup.

"I don't think there should be women's football, much less a bloody woman referee in the pitch!"

"Ray, you're…" Shaz was exasperated, it looks as if she was talking to a fat wall, a fat Carling wall.

"I certainly hope so, I don't want you guys to start slamming my furniture till I need to get another one!" Alex retorted back at Gene's self-reference comment.

"We'll pay for it." Ray was now getting his own basket and doing the shopping, apparently he had little confidence of Alex's new way of shopping .

"Raymondo, you know you're not getting any expenses credit for this." With that, Ray decided to keep the basket.

"I think we need more than just this, Bolly!" Gene was surveying the trolley, it just seemed like an ordinary housewife's groceries.

"Yeah, I've just finished Phase 1."

"Look Bolly, I'm not going to pay for your own groceries…"

"I need some stock in case France beat England, and you decide to have dinner here instead of one at the pubs, Guv!"

"Ok! Stop cursing the three lions, we're all loyal Englishmen here!" Ray decided that superstition shall rule the day.

Just as Alex decided to grab another French wine from the cellar in the supermarket.

"Bolly, no bloody French Wine for the Party!" Alex could only shake her head, Gene was being way more patriotic than she expected.

As Alex finished her slow shopping along with some heavy flirting around courtesy of Gene. The gang decided to survey the trolley they've had.

It was filled to the brim, with Gene's random grabbing of stuff they don't really need (Cassette Tapes of England's football team singing, it turns out Ray decided to have some poofy Gilbert and Sullivan music. Some good old English patriotic songs…"

"I think we forgot to get something, Guv."

"What is it, Christopher, you know my entire month's salary might not be able to pay for this!"

"Oh my god, the candy."

"How many?" The last time Alex saw such a huge trolley was when she forgotten her Christmas shopping and was too engrossed in a case, which had to do somehow with a person called Sam Tyler.

Gene saw the candy section and using his bare hands swept whatever candy bar in one shelf to Chris and Shaz trolley.

"You're paying for this." Gene smiled to Chris, who now looked at his own wallet.

"Well he's certainly going to pay for your dentist fees." Alex mocked as Gene pushed the trolley to the queue at neck-breaking speed.

The plump cashier lady could only look at Gene and Alex. "You couple just struck the lottery?" Which obviously leaves Ray to chuckle while Gene scowling and Alex being a bit abashed at that comment.

"Two more hours before kick-off!" Alex declared as Gene and the rest of the gang carried the plastic bags into the supermarket.

"Let's get ourselves settled then!" Gene threw the plastic bags on the floor along with Ray and Chris.

"Oi! You guys better help me and Shaz pack the stuff."

"We're armed bastards, not armed housewives, Bolly!"

"Some day, you will know that there will be more househusbands than housewives."

"Househusbands, what's that?" Ray and Chris' bewildered looks seem to resonate with Gene's.

"By the way, this is my house and I'm the host! So I'm the Guv, not you Gene!" Alex was now busy unpacking all the stuff.

"Alright, lads, lets help your lady guv a hand, lest she decides to spread that we're not bloody gentlemen to the rest of the female officers in Fenchurch East!" Gene got himself up and signalled Ray and Chris to help unpack the plastic bags.

"Chris, get the bowls ready for your chips. Ray, get the scissors and start playing whatever cassette tape that the Guv has. Gene, stop looking at the models of the fashion magazines I've bought and start helping me get all the candy out of the bags!" Alex was now being the commander in chief, normally Gene would have decided to go down to Luigi's for the pint, but when he kept hearing "Calcio Italia!" screams from the bar. He thought otherwise.

"While I go for a quick shower!" Alex smiled while Gene felt a bit out of place, he was supposed to be the Guv, but apparently Alex was the commander now and he couldn't complain.

Gene had a nasty thought that maybe while the rest of the lads were busy, he could maybe have some eye candy for himself. Alex however was not a foolish woman, and she would never be in front of the Guv.

Gene went to Alex's room, where it was a small room that had a bookshelf, it had quite a lot of books on Psychology, though there were still a few other books of interest like encyclopedias. He realised why she always won Ray's quizzes about Devon and bloody Cornwall.

Gene thought of taking a good peek at Alex through the bathroom door, but apparently to his nasty surprise, Alex had sealed the small hole of the door and deliberately locked it up. All Gene could see was a pink blurred silhouette which of course disappointed him as he walked back to the living room only to see a book fall on the bookshelf.

"How to reduce sexual tension in the workplace?" Gene raised his eyebrows and muttered, careful not to let Alex hear of it. Apparently next time if Gene were to confront Alex over sexual tension and Alex dares go Sunny Jim Callaghan and ask the "Tension, What Tension?" Gene could use this against her. But this was very highly impossible.

"An hour more to kickoff, now let me start preparing the kebabs!" Gene and the whole gang were now resting on their sofas after some frantic commanding by Alex and grocery unpacking.

Alex went out of the bathroom, wearing a red shirt with quite a small cut, which of course showed a bit of her assets.

"What is this, Bolly, you supporting the bloody Belgium squad!" Gene surveyed the wear, Alex was wearing black pants and the red t-shirt had yellow linings on it.

"Well Guv, I'm wearing red, part of England's colour!"

"You look like you're going to bloody Belgium! Everyone here is at least wearing white…"

"Well Ghana…" Alex decided not to argue about Ghana, as all of them will ask where the hell that place ever was.

"I'm the host, Gene! And I decide whether I should be wearing some French-made knickers and German-made shirt. Not you!" Alex's smart retort deliberately shut Gene's mouth up.

"Is that what we're having for our bloody tea!" Gene's cold look at Alex made her smile, Gene was still an old-fashioned copper.

"What do you want then, Gene, bitter and lager again! "

"At least some Garibaldi Biscuits along with some beer, Bolly!"

"Weird combination, Guv." Shaz's comment made Gene stare at him blankly, just as he was about to fire another salvo at Shaz.

"Well I shall prepare some Tea then, with Garibaldi biscuits!"

"Get Shaz with you, she makes better tea than you will ever do." Shaz was unsure whether it was a compliment for her or was it meant as an insult to Alex.

"You have any ideally men's magazines here, Bolly!" Gene was now fishing out any magazine worth reading.

"No, Guv, this is not your bloody house!" Alex was now back to her sofa, only to see the three stooges taking more space than she ever will.

"Don't worry, Guv, Chris bought one Shoot! Magazine."

"Now that is what I would pay for, Chris!" Gene gave an approving look as he began to flip through the Shoot! Magazine.

"So who's going to score for England…" Ray asked Chris.

"Kevin Keegan…"

"The twat with that weird perm!" Ray was now smoking a cigarette only to be stamped in the nick of time after Alex gave a stern glance at him.

"I suggest you should respect him more than just a twat, he's the one that's going to lead Manchester City out of the First Division!"

"Right then, I should call my folks from Hyde and tell them to shoot him down before he does that, shall we!" Alex had forgotten that the First Division was the Premier League in 1982.

"Guv, match's coming up soon…"

"Let's do a final check!" Gene declares as he gets his Garibaldi biscuits and cup of tea.

"Candies!"

"Check." Chris and Shaz were munching on one of the fudges

"Chips!"

"Check." Ray had already opened a packet of Tudor Crisps.

"Drinks!"

"Check." Alex got the chilled cans and bottles of wine out on the table.

"Excellent, let the match begin!" Alex was now sitting dangerously closer to Gene while Chris, along with Ray and Shaz were sitting on the sides.


	3. Chapter 3

A2A- World Cup Party Chapter 3

"Gene, you can't just start drinking before the match's even begun." Alex was apparently munching on one of the Milky Way bars as she looked at Gene taking a gulp from the beer.

"Bolls, I've just sung God Save The Queen with plenty of gusto and macho there, when do you suggest I start then!"

"The Ref's blown the whistle…." The commentator's voice was noticeably excited.

"Guv, Match's started." Ray's voice was also energetic now along with Chris and Shaz.

"Ray Wilkins…"

"Looking for Steve Coppell straight away."

"The left back rather from France…"

"Isn't that Michel Platini?" Ray asked.

"No, it's Bossis." Alex answered the question correctly with Gene and the rest of the men looking at her with the "what the bloody hell expression."

"Don't you guys ever listen to the commentator!" Alex replied curtly.

"and a great shot, and it's a goal by Bryan Robson!"

"GOAL!" Ray and Chris shouted as the commentator continues to cheer on the English Captain marvel.

"Bloody hell!" Chris was laughing, while Shaz could only look at him with loving eyes and grinning from ear to ear.

"Now can I start drinking, Bolly!"

"Well…"

"It's not a question…" Gene now came across as a very calm character while Ray and Chris began belting out Men of Harlech. Weird choice of music to cheer on England, Alex thought.

"You could sing it in Welsh!" Alex noted as Ray and Chris begin to realise that maybe they should switch to "For he is an Englishmen"!

Just as the commentator continues to observe with glee, the English lead over the French. Ray and Chris decided to offer their own commentary.

"That bloody commentator talks like as he's from bloody Coronation Street!" Ray didn't like commentators who spoke in monotone and definitely didn't care much about the words there

"There's Steve Coppell out there, beating the French bastard to the ball."

"Oh what a miss by that soddin Trevor Francis…"

"Well I would prefer to listen to the experts…" Alex winced as she sees Gene once again munching on another garibaldi biscuit.

"Let them do this, Bolls, you ain't no Nurse Ratched!" Gene shot back.

"Well should I let you be cuckoo Macmurphy then!" Alex was surprised that Gene actually saw the film with Jack Nicholson in it (She's once again forgotten the movie name)

"Why not! Come on Bolly, do you know the joy of police commentary in football!"

"I wouldn't want to know." Alex looked up at the ceiling as if she didn't really bother.

"And there is Michel Platini, thinking his French frog skills is going to save his team, Hell No!" Gene declares as he joins the commentary.

"Mind you, he's going to save European football in the future."

"Over my dead body! Bolly!"

"There's Ricky Rix, he's got the ball now." Chris was now joining the drinking parade.

"It's Graham." Alex corrected the mistake.

"Ricky sounds nicer." Chris claimed as Ray continued the commentary

"He's got the bloody ball, now where's soddin Trevor Francis, He's asking?"

"Why I'm here, Trevor Francis calls, but bloody hell the ball just went to that batty Battiston!"

"Right those French fucking frogs are never going to beat the mighty three lions." Chris was now getting more and more excited while the commentator gets more and more boring.

"And this Manc Lion is going to beat the Beeb commentator like how I beat any bloody suspect!" Gene was at his chauvinistic funniest, and Alex had to admit the exchange between the three stooges were increasingly funny, and more enjoyable to listen to.

"The ball's with Rocheteau now…" Even Shaz was joining in as she reads the list of French players and English players together.

"And there's Miguel Hidalgo, charming man." Alex took a sip of the wine now.

"Oi! Bolly, Ron Greenwood's hell lot of a better!" Gene was now perplexed to see everyone joining in the commentary.

"Because…"

"He's bloody English and that bastard Hidalgo is French." Alex would realise that the English and the French have a lot of bad blood, and it's bound to continue.

"Kevin Keegan with that crazy hair of his…" Ray continued while he passed around the Tudor Crisps.

"King Kev, you're saying Ray?"

"Yeah! If he scores, Ma'am." Shaz looked at Alex as she decided that it was time to read some women's magazines as the match turned even more boring than the first few minutes.

"A Soddin miss by Mariner, what the bloody hell was he thinking!" Gene's occasional curses coupled with a lot of beer-drinking did do its best to liven up the match.

"Bolly, you reading magazines while England's fighting its guts out against France, Come on show some balls and eyes, and some dastard loyalty, will you!"

"Oh, Guv, this is not a good sign…"

"Bloody Platini,with the ball."

"Platini now passing to Girard…"

"Who's that French bloke at the other side?"

"That's Samson out there isn't it?" Ray was getting panicky.

"Where the bloody hell is Fred Thompson?" Gene too was starting to panic.

"Another French twat with the bloody number 12 , with the bloody ball."

"Come on, get the ball out of that bastard!" Gene was shouting at the television.

"Giresse passing to Soler and…" The frantic commentary soon halted immediately as it fell to an awkward silence.

"And it's a French Goal…." Alex declared as she finished the sentence, with Gene's seething anger.

"It was just half way through the first half!" Gene gulped down another beer while Alex could hear the French neighbours above screaming "GOAL!" Right above Gene's head.

"Peter Shilton couldn't save this one." Chris could only shake his head as he grabs another one of the fudge bars.

"Who could?" Ray wondered as he continued grabbing another packet of Tudor Crisps and chomping down it.

"Lets pray God gives those English lads some courage to defeat those Napoleon Bastards!"

"It isn't you to pray, Guv?"

"Well Bolly, you stop your French supporting, and I think we can continue a conversation pretty better than we're having."

"I'm an English fan, I don't support France."

"Then stop declaring France's got the ball and give us some positives to work out."

"Excuse me, I have just given you a place to watch football!"

"Enough, Guv, we're still watching." Ray burst out, apparently he couldn't handle any more arguments.

"Definitely better than Luigi's." Chris mumbled as he grabbed one of the Guinness beers and drunk it with glee.

"Ma'am, you wouldn't want to know what he did to the television when England lost to Italy."

"What did he do?" Alex was curious to know what happened in 1980.

"Well it's not as bad as 1978!" Alex signalled Chris to continue

"We were watching Scotland versus the Dutch at Sam's place and Scotland won but lost out due to goals and…"

"I shot the television!" Gene declared as Alex gaped her mouth in horror.

"Game's Over!"

"Bang!" Alex could imagine Gene shooting it in Sam's house and Sam having that same horrified expression like her now.

"I hope you don't do that to my television, Guv, it cost me…"

"Then you better start supporting England, and get yourself in the game!" Gene didn't sound very threatening and he himself knew that if he ever did that, Alex would never speak to him again for a few months or so.

It was an agonising twenty minutes, as England and France wrestled to get another goal in.

"Terry Butcher's got a yellow, yet we still don't get a goal…" Ray had his hands covering his face.

"The French are strong, Ray."

"Have they ever won a world cup?" Shaz asked Alex.

"Well France will win it."

"Will! Bolly, Its not in 1982, is it!"

"Nope!" Alex was confident that she had the numbers right this time.

"Good! I'd like Platini to hear that." Gene shouted and gave the thumbs down sign to Platini which made Alex feel as if he was yet another child.

"They will win it in 1998."

"You going psychic again, Bolls?"

"Yes and England will lose it for at least 25 more years!"

"Oi!" This time it was a collective call from Ray, Chris and Gene, the three men hated any curses.

"I'm betting with ya, that England's gonna get it right this time round!" Ray was defiant as he decided to tell the gang a story of how he met Bobby Moore.

"Bobby Moore was at West Ham then…" Ray was continuing the story while a slightly surprised Alex was focusing on him instead of the television.

"I think that was Viv's story, wasn't it." Shaz spoiled Ray's devious surprise as Chris and Alex had a good laugh over it.

"Yeah, but it was a good story, wasn't it!" Ray decided it was time to have a cigarette.

"Any cigarette butts on the floor, Gentlemen, I will personally see to it that you will pay for the carpet!" Ray soon got his lighter back in the pocket, no point getting fined for having one cigarette at your superior's office.

"Half-time's whistle blown by the referee." With that, Chris went to the toilet immediately while Gene got himself out of the sofa for a stretcher.

"We're going to wait for match-time analysis, it seems." Alex was now having another glass of wine.

"I think we could play some good cards now!"

"Poker?"

"Yeah, what do you think we will be doing then, bloody lady's solitaire!"

"Good idea, Guv." Ray joined along.

"I think we should talk more football than just cards." Alex never liked the fact that one would play cards during half-time. It just reminded her of Peter Drake.

"Cards!" Gene dismissed Alex's request and they soon got into a quick poker game.

"Do you know that Poker descended from France?"

"I don't want to bloody know Bolly that I've been playing a French game for almost half my damn life!"

"I'm calling your Bluff, Ray." Chris grinned.

"Chris, did you actually let her look at my cards or what!" It seemed pretty obvious to all of them that Shaz and Chris were cooperating.

"Oi! No lovebirds spoiling games of poker here, either you play for yourself or you play for your bloody lover!" Gene dictated the rules again, while Shaz blushed as Alex smiled chirpily.

"How many more minutes to kick-off?" Ray asked.

"A few more to go, Ray."

"Ron Greenwood better give his side a good pep talk, I want to see England smash those French frogs out of the bloody World Cup."

"Sadly, you won't be seeing that…" Alex thought to herself, imagine what if she just said what she was thinking again to Gene.

"Whoever loses this last round first has to clean up Bolly's apartment, Unless DI Drake decides to lose her cards first, capisce!"

"Yeah, Guv." The team agreed as they started their last round of poker before kick-off.

"Second Half's up, Guv!" Chris was back to the chair as he saw the green fields on the television screen.

"I don't need to know that, Chris! I just want to know if I can beat Drake to getting the pot here!" Gene was an avid poker player.

"I suggest you guys start watching now, the match's going to be very exciting!" Gene felt a sense of misfortune as Alex raised her voice when she said the word "Exciting" Yet again it's maybe not that misfortunate after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Ashes to Ashes World Cup Party Chapter 4

"I can't believe my luck!" Chris exclaimed.

"You had Shaz…" Ray interjected, though this time he didn't sound like a very sore loser.

"Oi! Ray, I didn't help him this time round!" Shaz was grinning at Chris, and she didn't look like the loser for the last round.

"If you guys don't stop babbling over this bloody French Game, then I shall make all of you pay for whatever we bought at bloody Tesco!" Aha, the loser was no one but Gene!

"Ok, Rix with the ball, he's passing it to Bryan Robson, Robson tries his luck, Misses!"

"How could he miss that one!" Chris shouted in horror, with Shaz joining along.

"There's Peter Shilton out there,"

"That man better not blunder out this time, if not I will make sure the whole bloody metropolitan police look for him and shoot that hand of his."

"You're sounding like the mafia, you know that Gene!"

"Yeah, and I think a lot of people are willing to do that, shoot the bloody goalie's hand if he gives a soddin mistake!"

Alex was now preparing for the worse, and was getting the food out of the fridge. Apparently Shaz warned her that even a draw could be a bloody battle in the pub, and that no police officer wanted to be caught there.

"So what's the specialty tonight, Bolly!"

"Well it's going to be Chicken and Chips in a basket!" Gene could only grumble, the last time he heard of that was Sam Tyler's crazy 1970s invention.

"You could bloody well use your own initiative." Alex smiled, the prospect of Gene being the cleaner man was very promising to her.

"Wilkins going deep in here, and two bloody French defenders trying to sandwich him." Ray continued the commentary.

"And there we have it, Wilkins passing the ball to some bloody unknown soddin french frog, what was he thinking?" Gene took one of the fudge bars and devoured it completely.

"Bryan Robson's back with the ball, this time England are going in full offence." Alex's sweet and sultry voice did little to convince Ray and Chris their macho style of commentary was not as good as hers.

"Go on, Bolly…" Gene on the other hand was now interested to hear women commenting on football.

"He's going deeper than expected, passes it to Mariner…" Alex tried to sound more and more excited, but that will have to do with a bit of shrills which she tried her best to halt.

"and shoots it off the post!" Alex tries her best to exclaim manly-like like those television commentators but to no avail.

"You see that's why birds can't be commentators on a football match, they just don't capture the bloody excitement we lads need, eh!" Ray and Chris would have liked to say Aye, but the problem was their DI was still their superior, and their host for the day.

"Like those referees, if there ever was a female referee…" Ray chuckled at the prospect of that.

"One day there would be a woman referee on the field!" Alex protested.

"Yeah, the beautiful game will be truly beautiful by then!" Gene mocked Alex, the last time he mentioned a female prime minister, he ended up eating his words very badly.

"The French are on a bloody hell rampage!"

"Larios, Rocheteau, Soler, my goodness where's Phil Thompson!" Shaz asked, Phil was considered a charming man.

"Even Keegan's coming back!" Ray was sitting tight now, along with Chris whose hands covered Shaz's back.

"This is not going to be a French goal, is it Bolls?" Gene turned to Alex who was just contemplating of cooking something else beside Chicken in a basket.

"He's going in deep this time…." Alex noted.

"Soler, that bloody solitaire guy, MISSES!" Gene cackles in triumph, a rare sight indeed for Alex and the rest of the gang.

"Come on, Ray, let's start singing Land Of Hope And Glory!" Ray noticed that Gene was not very drunk, and that Gene's form of outburst sounded a bit weird like as if he was possessed by a teenage spirit.

"Guv, you're not drunk are you!"

"Nope, I'm bloody not, Essex girl, I just want my spirits up, I've got NO BEER!" Ray turned his head back to the television.

"Go get yourself a dozen at Luigi's then, Guv." Alex was shocked at the sight that everyone had finished the beer cans and bottles even before the match is at its last 90 minutes.

"You guys really are alcoholics, and one day you will definitely die of alcoholic poisoning!"

"No, Bolly, they won't, and I'm getting more lunatic if I don't get any alcohol in my blood."

"Coffee!" Alex smashed the cup on the table with a stunned Gene looking at her.

"Look! Guv, I'm caring for your health!" Alex was now back at the sofa,

"You sound like my ex-wife!" Gene shouted as he sipped the cup of coffee anyway.

"There's Wilkins again!"

"Wilkins, to Rix, to Trevor Francis."

"He's now in the French side."

"Leap over those French frogs, you Manchester City boy!" Gene felt that there was a goal coming.

"He's not staying long, Guv."

"Oi! Bolly, if you're going to continue making negative predictions, I'm throwing you…." Gene couldn't finish the sentence, and Alex arched her eyebrows and became more chirpy.

"Trevor Francis, he passes it to Robson, oh that's it…"

"IT'S A GOAL!" Ray threw the popcorn bowl over the sofa, while Gene managed to catch it in the nick of time.

"Well Done! Captain Marvel!" Alex cheered on Gene as he made a superb save of that bowl. While Shaz kissed Chris, with Ray covering his head in hands once again.

"He sure is bloody marvellous, Bolls!"

"Ron Old Greenwood's smiling." Ray noticed.

"It's 2-1!" Gene declares as the match enters the last 25 minutes.

"The bloody French are fighting back now."

"Poofs…"

"Heroic, but it will be a lost cause." Alex decided to make a soft conclusion as she sees the French players get their act back together.

"I'd like that, Bolls." Gene smiled.

"Well you'd like anything that goes well with your chauvinistic ego."

"Wrong, my patriotic ego!" Gene smirked again, this time mocking Alex's constant accent while Ray and Chris chuckled.

"Butcher's cleared the ball again!"

"Yes, and Butcher's gonna Butcher the bloody French." Shaz was now getting more enthusiastic in the commentary.

"Do you think that Kevin Keegan's hot, Shaz?" Alex decided to divert the conversation, Chris was turning his head slowly.

"No, Ma'am, he has that weird perm that I wouldn't want Chris to have." Chris grinned while Ray apparently decided to continue watching the football.

"Phil Thompson steadily making sure another French twat doesn't get the ball."

"Phil Thompson, legend." Alex quipped.

"Soon to be, Bolly, but he's in Liverpool with Keegan." Alex now started to remember Keegan but for the wrong reasons… His screaming rant over Newcastle's win was playing out over yet another argument of her and that bastard ex-husband of hers.

"I thought you would be rooting for country before club."

"You know… Drake!" Gene was now interrupted by the euphoria coming out from Chris and Ray.

"Robson again, this time he's passed it to Trevor Francis, oh boy he's at it again, he's at it again, he passes it to Mariner, HE SCORES!" Ray and Chris once again make the perfect commentator duo.

"Those french twats are now absolutely going to bloody hell!" Gene was roaring with laughter as he sees the French defenders all getting more painful.

"Now I can get that French twat selling bread to get me a pint!" Ray chuckled as the gang decided to continue the feasting of the leftover candies and biscuits. It horrifies Alex to see the gang munching down the snacks like as if there was no tomorrow ahead of them.

"7 more minutes before match ends!"

"Great! I don't need to prepare any dinner, and you can go to the pub and get even madly drunk!" Alex was at her spirited best, while Gene and the rest were looking at her.

"What's England's next match?"

"Czechs…" Shaz noted as she looked at the fixture list for England's group D.

"Should be easy meat, those Czechslovakians!" Ray was having difficulty spelling out the country's name.

"France are down and out now!" Chris chuckled on.

"Not yet." Alex was pretty confident this time.

"Bolly, stop predicting bad things like a bloody gypsy psychic!"

"Well the game's not over!" Ray protested, as if England were assured victory.

"It ain't over till it's over, trust me Ray, you will know what I mean when you're in Barcelona in 1999." Alex knew that date clearly as Manchester United's triumphant year.

"I won't want to go to bloody Spain when I can enjoy Margate!" Ray blatantly ignored Alex's prediction again.

"2 minutes of injury time left!" Gene declares. Gene was getting more impatient as the time goes, Chris and Ray were commentating lesser, what else is there to commentate when England are basically just waiting for the bloody game to end.

"Chris, are we going to Luigi's?"

"Why not? I doubt those Italians are still there for their annual bloody meeting!"

"Match's over!"

"It's been a great match, England shot a quick opening salvo by bloody Bobby Robson…"

"Bryan Robson…" Alex interjected.

"Bryan Robson, and then the bloody French decide to fire back, but our brave three bloody lions shoot the French down with two goals, and we're bloody getting this right! England, will win this World Cup in Spain! They will win it like how they did in 1966!"

"You guys should be employed by Sky to do football commentating."

"Sky! What the…"

"Never mind."

"Right, I'm leaving!"

"No, Guv, you can't leave…" Ray shot back at his Guv.

"You lost the bet, Guv." Chris gave a painful reminder to Gene that he was the loser of the game.

"You lost first, Guv." Shaz made it a triple while Alex was grinning chirpily as she signals Gene to start cleaning up.

"Happy cleaning, Guv." Ray, Chris, Shaz went out of the doors after saying their goodbyes to Gene and Alex.

"Let's bet 10 dollars, that something's bound to happen over knickers tonight." Ray laughed loudly this time.

"Don't be disgusting…."

"Why not! That happens between you and Shaz."

"Oi!" Chris and Shaz both silenced Ray, as he decided to take a cigarette now.

"So let's start the cleaning, Gene." Alex laughed as she got herself another glass of wine.

"A pint of beer downstairs first, before I get your house cleaned."

"Don't buy it!" Alex stopped herself on the door.

"You know you're placing more agro between me and you."

"Tension, you meant."

"Tension, what tension?"

"You know what I mean…." Alex smiled as she got Gene's three lions scarf thrown back into the sofa….


End file.
